[19] On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, who was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

[24][22] Model-based simulations for Argentina indicate that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number Rt exceeded 1.0 from April to July 2020, after which it diminished to below 1.0 in October and November 2020.

[32] On 11 March, the government also announced a mandatory 14-day-quarantine to every person that returned to Argentina from highly affected countries including China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, the United States and all of Europe.

[12] Two weeks later, on 31 July, in another press conference, Fernández announced that the lockdown restrictions at that moment would continue until 16 August as there were a record of cases and deaths in the past days due to the virus.

[73] On 25 September, the Health Access Secretary informed that during the previous week there was a "stabilization trend" in the Greater Buenos Aires area with a "high peak of positive cases".

As of this date, 65 per cent of the total daily confirmed cases came from all the country except the Greater Buenos Aires area, which was the main contagion focus in the past months.

[114] New restrictions were applied since 16 April in Greater Buenos Aires after a rise in the number of new confirmed cases and ICU bed occupation, including a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the closing of schools for two weeks.

[120] On 6 December, the health ministry announced the detection of the first positive case of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in a fully vaccinated Argentine traveler, who entered country by airplane on 30 November from South Africa via the United States.

[128] As an effort to fight and contain the virus, the Ministry of Health implemented a plan of contact tracing in defined areas where an increase in the number of cases is detected or estimated.

[129] The program, called Detectar (Detect in English; Strategic Testing Device for Coronavirus in Argentina Terrain), launched on May after a big jump in the number of cases in low socioeconomic class and densely populated neighbourhoods in Greater Buenos Aires, known as villas.

[134] Argentine scientists developed a quick diagnosis test to detect the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), approved by the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT in Spanish).

[152][153] On 3 November 2020, President Fernández announced in an interview with Russian news agency that government would receive an initial of more than 10 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine by as early as December 2020, after it would enter phase III.

[162] Since late-May 2020, a few protestors began to rally in Buenos Aires to demand end of the lockdown, ignoring social distancing rules, and with the call to prioritise the re-opening of Argentina's economy and some conspiratorial overtones, due to the small and medium-size businesses and self-employed workers' economic struggle during this time.

[164][165] The government's responses to the pandemic was very well seen, including the mandatory lockdown and strict social distancing measures, resulting in a general better look in the number of cases and deaths than other countries in the region.

[19] On 11 March 2020, the government announced a mandatory 14-day-quarantine to every person that returned to Argentina from highly affected countries such as China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, the United States and all of Europe.

The lockdown would resume to workers of private construction, medical and dental care, industry production and online commerce, lawyers, and accountants, among others, in some provinces such as Entre Ríos, Jujuy, La Pampa, Mendoza, Misiones, Neuquén, Salta, San Juan, Santa Cruz and Tucumán, with the respective health protocols.

The Greater Buenos Aires zone will maintain the geographical segmentation phase due to the number of cases that are still being registered in the area, but will allow children to go outside accompanied by an adult.

[79] In Buenos Aires new activities such as the gradual return to face-to-face classes, habilitation of domestic service, cultural events, construction and other social and commercial authorisations were announced by Mayor Rodríguez Larreta on the same day.

[202] The government announced on 14 April 2021 that from the following day new restrictions would apply to Greater Buenos Aires for two weeks after a rise in the number of daily cases and ICU bed occupation.

[14][203] In October 2021, after the number of infections considerably decreased and having reached the mark of more than 70% of the population vaccinated, some regions, especially Buenos Aires lifted the face mask mandate when outdoors.

[15][232] The Argentina 2000 airports signed an agreement with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to reimburse 100% of the charges originated by the air cargo that enters the country that are directly or indirectly related to the COVID-19.

[235] According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Argentina was expected to loosen its travel ban earlier than the date that was previously announced by the government (1 September 2020).

[238] Following this travel ban, one of the most strict in the world,[239] airline LATAM Argentina closed definitely on 17 June 2020,[240][241][242] due to "the conditions of the local industry, aggravated by the pandemic".

[256] On 9 June 2020, the Ministry of Education expressed that 85 per cent of students would be able to return to classes in August, though with special hygiene measures in place, but schools in the Greater Buenos Aires area would have to wait until infections in the region begin to drop off.

[257] Three months later, on 3 August 2020, the Ministry of Education confirmed that the provinces of Catamarca, San Juan and Santiago del Estero would begin a process of returning to class under a system that would involve dividing students into groups that could attend classrooms in weekly shifts.

[258] On that day, schools of Catamarca and Santiago del Estero opened with directive, administrative and teaching personnel from the last years of primary and secondary levels, that were expected to prepare protocols to restart classes on 18 August 2020.

[314] After the use of public transportation in Greater Buenos Aires grew by 60 per cent in early June 2020,[315] the government announced new measures to allow only "essential workers" for the use of train, bus and underground services.

[317] Under the lockdown tightening that came into effect on 1 July 2020, public transportation use in Greater Buenos Aires dropped by 30 per cent (around 300,000 passengers) on the first days compared versus the previous week.

Santiago del Moro, Catherine Fulop, Guido Kaczka, Andy Kusnetzoff, Alejandro Fantino, Baby Etchecopar, Eduardo Feinmann, Nicole Neumann and Maju Lozano were among the people from the Argentine media that have been tested positive.

[68][69] Before returning to practice, several clubs such as Boca Juniors, River Plate, Independiente, Racing, San Lorenzo and Vélez Sársfield, among others, tested its players with positive results for COVID-19.